Seattle area home prices surge — biggest growth in U.S.

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(Photo by Dan Callister/Newsmakers/Getty Images)

Seattle area home prices surge — biggest growth in U.S.

(Photo by Dan Callister/Newsmakers/Getty Images)

SEATTLE — The Seattle area has the hottest housing market in the country – the first time in nine years that Seattle has led the United States in home-price growth.

Our news partner The Seattle Times reports the typical single-family home across King, Snohomish and Pierce counties cost 11 percent more in September than a year prior, according to the monthly Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday. That marked the biggest increase among the 20 major metro areas covered.

Seattle narrowly topped Portland, where home values gained 10.9 percent. For the prior eight months, Seattle had seen its home-price growth sit second in the country behind Portland.

Overall, Seattle prices are rising twice as fast as the rest of the country, as they have for most of this year.